Deus Ex Machina Et Tempus
by StoryPen
Summary: A woman from Japan arrives in Detroit in 2027 only to find that it was much worse than home. While staying at an apartment, she meets a man whom was recently Augmented and she tries to understand his pain of lacking choice in becoming something greater...
1. Compitales de Fatis Part 1

Deus Ex Machina Et Tempus

Disclaimer: You all know the drill by now, readers. Everything here belongs to their respective owners. No Copyright infringement and all that.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution belongs to Edios Montréal and Square Enix

Earth Maiden Arjuna belongs to Shoji Kawamori and Satelight Inc.

Compitales de Fatis Part 1

She woke up that evening, worried about something. That something, she thought, could not come to mind. An invisible threat that, no matter how invisible it might be, always tormented her well being. Yet one could see that she already had the immunity of it.

Ever since she was fourteen, she was chosen to be something greater for better or for worse. She could not decide which one before she was plunged into something that would have been beyond traumatizing to any other human. She saved her native country from destruction, and perhaps the lives of millions…but she never asked for this. She never wanted to become the 'Avatar of Time' nor did she want much of her liberty to be taken away. Where she used to eat anything she wanted, much of it would be spat out the moment the bite was taken, with visions of how those on Earth perverted its resources for better taste. Had she been given the option to opt, she would have said no. But yes and no were borderlines with life and death, at least in her case. This would have been a likely suspect of what was eating her up inside as it has for most of her life. Today, she would become forty and little had changed in that time.

Slowly, and methodically, she slid off her bed and onto her feet. After stretching her rested legs, the woman quietly drifted through the darkness and onto the cold marble floor of the bathroom. Once there was contact between skin and stone, the lights washed away all darkness and the woman found that she was staring at none other than herself. Other than a Magatama bead embedded into her forehead, the only other deviant feature this woman found about herself was that her entire body, face to feet, resembled that of a healthy woman that would have been in her early thirties. Yet the woman had long ago accepted these facts as she turned on the faucet in her sink. She scooped the falling water into her hands and motioned them towards her face, splashing herself in its cold and unforgiving sensation of the tiny droplets that have built up to form that small handful of water.

It was a mistake, as being the Avatar of Time came with one ability that no human can endure without damage to their livelihood. In the woman's eyes, she saw a vision, one of that of water being filled with chemicals which was to 'purify' it as to not harm humans but other visions that showed people getting sick from over exposure to the water. It was not the first vision that had filled the woman's eyes…and it was not to be the last.

Her left arm kept the woman from falling to the floor from the shakes and sweat while her right reached out for a pill bottle that read Neuropozyne on the label. With her thumb, she flicked off the cap, brought the bottle to her mouth and slipped one tablet down her throat. The visions had stopped seconds later and the woman took a deep breath. Normally taken through needles as well as usually taken by augmented people, the woman's abilities did have the same characteristics of those that have been augmented. Her prescription of Neuropozyne came in pills rather than injections, for the sake of convenience. Yet she still found herself questioning her difference of those who had mechanical limbs rather than organic.

The woman sank her head into her left arm in despair. She felt tears forming in her eyes as she thought back to her past. Despite the fact that she learned of her role as she was that day all those years ago, she still couldn't understand why it had to be her to do what she did, to have to be the one to experience the harsh reality of the world she occupied. She looked at herself, old yet young, with her humanity dwindling. Why did she have to leave everything ordinary behind to take this new responsibility? Why did she…With a scream, she retracted her left arm, made a fist, and struck the mirror that bore her reflection. The woman continued to cry, yet it was hard to tell if she was crying from the pain of her punch or from her past. Either way, she fell on her knees and curled herself. After a moment of sorrow and tears, the woman finally stood up and decided to wash her hand with the faucet that still ran. The once transparent water ran red with her blood as did the floor. Once her arm became dry again, the woman took a piece of cloth and wrapped her wounded hand and took one glance at the fruit of her discomfort before exiting the bathroom. She walked into the kitchen before she found bandages to replace the cloth over her hand.

She wrapped her red covered hand and tossed the leftovers onto the counter. The woman tried to move her hand but pain was the only result. She immediately gave up on movement and decided to allow her hand to heal. She only wished that she would have struck something else, perhaps a punching bag but she figured that she would not have had the patience to attack something made of sand. The woman's thoughts trended towards the television. She sat on the couch and took the remote. Normally, she would not bother to waste her time with television, especially at that hour. She would have to go to work the following morning, as a receptionist for a foundation known as Humanity Front, an anti-augmentation group whose goal was to convince the American Government, and perhaps the rest of the world, to heavily restrict human augmentation.

The woman found watching the news that came from a news station in Montréal, Picus was its name. The woman found it amusing that a Canadian news program could catch the hearts of millions. Their anchorwoman, Eliza Cassan, seemed to be biased in almost all subjects that were mentioned. After five minutes, the woman turned off the television and walked back to her bed. She climbed into the sheets and stared at the ceiling. She thought about what had happened in the past few years, and even decades, how this rebirth left her with almost nothing. Now, almost three decades later, the few things that had changed, diverted greatly from the norm…her norm. But she is still who she is for her name is Juna Ariyoshi, she is the Avatar of Time, and she is the Earth Maiden…

Please feel free to criticize anything from inconsistencies to grammar problems and so forth, say how much you liked or hated it or to just say hello


	2. Compitales de Fatis Part 2

Here is the final part for the prologue, though it is rather short compared to the first, but please enjoy:

Compitales de Fatis Part 2

There were men, in Renaissance attire, examining a man's corpse whose arms had been cut open. Inside their building, it was the first time these men, or anyone for that matter, had a chance to perform the world's first autopsy on another human. As they dwelled amongst themselves, examining the bones and blood and skin, unbeknownst to them or to any mortal eye, the man's soul began to arise from the cadaver. No one notices as the soul sprouts wings as arms and takes off through the ceiling. The soul escapes gravity as it flies upward toward the sky. Unfortunately, following the same fate as Icarus, the soul had gotten too close to the sun and the wings began burning away. Quickly, there was nothing left to keep the soul in the air and plunged back to Earth. 'Death' was inevitable.

'Death' was not to happen as a man nearly threw himself off his couch that evening. Awakened from his dream, the man looked at something new…something different. His arms…or lack of them, were made painfully obvious to him as he examined the piano black finish to his new 'Augmented' arms. It was not only his arms, but his eyes, that have been replaced with ones that can scan anything and can display images without an outside device. His brain, implanted with the latest communication technology of the day. Despite all these advancements to make him a better him after the attack…the man never asked for any of the things he was given.

It was only three months since things changed. A woman was lost to him in addition to his body, which was enhanced without permission. The man placed took a cigarette from a small carton and placed into his mouth before lighting it. He took in the nicotine quite deeply, knowing that his lungs were now virtually immune to this kind of hazard. Taking the lit cigarette from his mouth in one hand, the man stretched his other augmented arm in order to reach for the small shot glass full of alcohol that sat idly on the glass table before him. Once he gripped it, the man moved his new arm towards his mouth so he could consume the contents of the liquid that was to drown his uncertainty. As the shot glass approached, it began to crack. The man stopped the movement with the glass still shattered in his hand. He cursed under his breath when he realized that he gripped it too strong. It was frustrating because it was as if he had congenital insensitivity to pain, or at least in a way that he can't tell how to hold something properly. He can't feel with his cold, mechanical hands, perhaps that what ate him up the most inside. It became apparent when he first looked at himself in the mirror when he first arrived home after the operation. The sight was so horrific, so confusing and frightening, that the man, out of anger and sorrow, bashed his mirror. It was then and there he could no longer see the man he has become, if he or anyone else can call it that. Evolution as it was called by his boss…Heh, what a laugh. How can something so…surreal…can even be called that, or anything related to progression. Bah, the man could not dwell on the matter any longer. He might not have come to terms with his own body but he wasn't about to sit around and obsess over it. To make enemies, according to this man, you must try and change something. The man sat his shot glass down on the table, which collapsed upon contact, and crushed his cigarette into the ashtray. He stood up and two blades of dark glass, which were implanted into his head, retracted into view. He looked out the window and saw the city under the dark sky.

His name is Adam Jensen and the year is 2027. It is a time of great innovation and technological advancement. It is also a time of chaos and conspiracy. The man does not whose side he was on…since corporations have more power than the government. He is always told that he would never find those he lost, failed to protect, but he will never stop looking…

It is not the end of the world…but you can see it from here…

Deus Ex Machina Et Tempus

(God out of the Machine and Time)


	3. Iterum Atque Iterum

I'm apparently loosing steam, writing wise, so I might be slow with new updates. However, when I do finish a chapter, and it's checked and double checked, I will post it as soon as I can. As always, please Enjoy and feel free to review if you wish...

Iterum Atque Iterum

The alarm clock rang a deafening tone. Yet, as soon as it came, Juna, with closed eyes, calmly pressed against the snooze button, silencing the clock as quickly as it was not. The middle-aged woman sat up on her bed, attempting to steal herself from drowsiness. She rubbed her face with her palms, hoping to reset her senses. She later brushed her teeth in the bathroom but since she had no mirror, Juna could not properly fix her hair or anything else that would require it. She did have a spare mirror, magnetized onto her refrigerator. After adjusting her hair with the small reflection, she grabbed cereal from the shelf above her as well as synthetic milk from the refrigerator. After making her breakfast, she sat at her table in the living room.

Once she faced her meal, she then glanced at something else, in her hand. It was the pill bottle from last night, the one that read Neuropozyne, which could suppress her powers of being the Avatar of Time. Its original purpose was to prevent nerve scarring and build up of glial tissue around the augmentations in a human who has them, which would lead to rejection syndrome. For Juna, the material inside each Neuropozyne pill could suppress the visions long enough so that she could enjoy herself as an ordinary human being and not having to stumble upon the rejection of the food she eats and the things she does. Swallowing the pill after drinking a small sip of water to wash it down, Juna couldn't help but form a half-smile.

Her former employer would have forced the pill out of her body on a moment's notice had they caught her doing it. She knew that they wouldn't understand that one had to be in perfect mental condition to operate in dire situations like the ones she was forced to do when she was only a teenager. Perhaps this is why she left everything behind, her native country, her friends, and her family…for the better. But for who…was the question that ran through the Earth Maiden's mind. After a moment of silence, Juna began to eat. She would need to do so quickly, for she would be late for work.

After eating, she dressed in appropriate clothing that would be for a woman her age, working as a receptionist at a foundation that opposed human augmentation. On her way out, she took her jacket and placed it over her shoulders as she exited her apartment. Quietly walking down the hall, she glanced at the janitor before hastily redirecting her sight forward. He was leaning back into the maintenance door, listening to music when he noticed the woman walking past him. "Have a good one, Ms. Ariyoshi," He called to her. Juna looked back and nodded. "You too," She replied. Once she arrived at the elevator, she called it up with a press of a button. It came rather quickly and she stepped inside when it arrived. Juna pressed the lobby floor and the doors closed. As the elevator descended, Juna couldn't help but think if she did the right thing leaving Japan all those years ago. She did so much and tried so hard to protect her friends and family, while also keeping the Earth safe from humanity's ability to exploit it.

The elevator stopped on the main floor and the doors retracted, allowing light to bleed through. The Earth Maiden took a deep breath with her eyes squinted, before stepping out. For her, little has changed. It was unfortunate that the world around her had not. It was an ordinary world, by some standards, when she was a child, yet in the recent two decades, too much had become different.

She walked through the lobby, with her medium purse strapped over her right shoulder. As she walked by, she noticed that there were people talking amongst themselves and a few others were playing games on their handheld devices. It must have been nice, to be able to live normal lives without augmentation. This is what Juna believed when she passed all those people. She made her way to the exit when someone entered, a man.

He slowly walked his way towards Juna's direction. As he passed her by, she noticed that the sunglasses he was wearing had no bridge which meant…oh no, Juna thought. He had glasses implanted into his head. His hands too, and probably his arms as well, were metallic. Even the forehead had signs of implants. Juna couldn't help but shake her head ever so slightly when she stepped through the doorway. What kind of world was she living in? Had humanity lost all senses? Perhaps this was what had estranged Juna all this time. Once that philanthropist billionaire, David Sarif, brought human augmentation into the market twenty years earlier, Juna knew that a whole new kind of warfare was to be played. Before, it was about saving the Earth from the humans who occupied it and, at the same time, vindicating a worm-like species known as the Raaja. Now, it was more about saving humanity from itself, from the illusion of self-controlled evolution all the while trying to stay out of the crossfire of corporate espionage and conspiracy. This is why she found her way to America, to Detroit.

Her older sister, Kaine, lost her left arm. A pharmaceutical company that rivaled Sarif Industries, Tai Yong Medical, had given her a prosthetic replacement. When Juna first heard the news of the accident, while still living in Japan, she wanted to see her sister as quickly as she could, to see if she still was alright. Of course, when she arrived, the Avatar of Time discovered that her sister had already replaced her missing arm. It wasn't the worst part for the then young Earth Maiden. Following the American Thisdale Case, a few months later, it was granted to people the right to replace perfectly healthy limbs for synthetic ones. A normal person that wanted to cut off their own arms just to obtain prosthetic ones could very well do so. This left Juna disgusted of human augmentation, especially when the visions set in at appropriate occurrences. Especially when some people, including those from Sarif Industries and Tai Yong Medical, have claimed that augmentation was there to 'Make Humans better'.

It was a bright new day in the Motor City. For Juna Ariyoshi, it was time to help those who wanted to restrict human augmentation and for that, she is grateful to able to do so: To save humanity from augmented evolution.


	4. Semitas Prope Traiecto

Here is the latest chapter so please enjoy and remember that all reviews are welcome.

Semitas Prope Traiecto

"I'm sorry, Mr. Jensen," The receptionist, behind the apartment's lobby desk, replied. She didn't need a word from the man to know that he would refer to the destroyed mirror that hung silently in his bathroom. Adam grunted, frustrated as usual. "The delivery guys haven't shipped a new mirror yet, you're just going to have to wait until it arrives," Adam scratched his right cheek, knowing that, at the moment, there was nothing else he could do. Ending the conversation with a single nod, Adam Jensen continued towards the elevator, dismayed that nothing was going his way. Heh, like he had control over his life any longer.

For over three months, the ability to steer his fate vanished. Adam Jensen found himself being subjected to the world's control around him, from his augmentations to personality and even social life. Despite receiving 'Get Well' cards from friends and what little remained of his loved ones, Adam couldn't help but feel bad for himself, perhaps even mild hatred. How could he have let this happen to him? How could he be so misfortunate for the choice of control be revoked without him even knowing its occurrence? Perhaps it was too soon, for him to look back. Or was it already too late?

Jensen rode the elevator up to his floor, hands in the pockets of his long coat. He was surprised, if not relieved, that it was the one thing that survived in the attack on Sarif Industries, three months earlier. Adam was glad in more ways than one, that the jacket had done a decent job of hiding something that even he couldn't quite fathom. For a moment, however, he thought back to when he just entered the building. That woman, who exited as he walked in, she was older than he, but had that strange look.

That look, Jensen thought, was that of anger, anger towards him, his decision. What decision? The man thought. That Adam Jensen, a man who had taken a bullet to his skull at the time to protect others, decided one day to cut off his arms and gouge out his eyeballs too, and have them replaced? Humorous, yet Jensen did not laugh. Why complain though? She had no idea what happened to him. Impressions always controlled one's opinions towards another so Adam believed that he should give her a break. Yet there was something else in her eyes at the same time, he realized. An emotion no different from something called sympathy. Jensen, having been previously an officer of the law, and a rather good one, had a gut feeling that there was more to the woman than met the eye, augmented or otherwise, and it wasn't that thing on her forehead nor was it the bloodshot eyes either, that had the man thinking. No, there was something else about her…something incredibly deviant.

The elevator doors opened and Adam walked out. His thoughts about everything were everywhere that day. Some thoughts about life with Augmentations to how was he to his return to work the following year while others about how people must think of him now which led to his thoughts about that woman he passed by. His walk through the Detroit streets, earlier that day, didn't help either. Adam later believed that if a walk through the streets of the city you grew up in couldn't clear one's thoughts, perhaps nothing else could either. It was a sad day for him, as it has been for over three months. How he lost a loved one, almost loosing himself, as well as those many others that day. David Sarif would most likely tell him to move forward, that it was part of evolution. After his security system greeted him as it did every time the man left and entered, Adam sat on his couch, holding his head while also covering it with his new arms and hands. 'Evolution'? He asked himself. As in what, exactly? Or better still, which one? Natural…or Self-Controlled. Adam would surely like to know which one his boss would be referring to.

The man couldn't bare it any longer, he needed to go back outside and try to clear his mind once more. He stood up once more and walked out of his apartment, being given the same good bye by the automated female voice that originated from hidden speakers as it always did. Adam passed the custodian that was leaning back into the door that led into the maintenance room. "Yo, Mr. Jensen," He said to the departing man. Adam turned his head around, presenting attention. "Didn't you just walk in?" Adam shrugged. "Yeah…but I forgot to do something," He replied, a lie, of course. It was clear as bright light but the custodian simply shrugged. "Whatever, Mr. Jensen." Adam was about to continue forward when the man listening to the music suddenly added "You be careful out there sir," "Got it," Jensen replied. The custodian didn't have to remind the augmented being, it was already a part of life ever since the expenses for augmentation could not be paid and homelessness skyrocketed. At the same time, attacks on augmentation companies became a small but intense issue among workers, civilians, officials and law enforcement alike.

Could Jensen blame himself for everything that has happened? He could and would, but Adam was already unsure of himself for far too long for that decision to be simply handed over to him…and him alone. It fell upon those around him, strangers, who had their own opinions of the world that surrounded them. No one conclusion could answer Jensen's question of self-certainty and its assurance. Even as Adam Jensen walked out of that building, he did not realize that it was only a matter of time….


End file.
